Future shortages of aggregates could scupper efforts by the highway construction sector to reduce carbon emissions associated with transporting raw materials.

The Mineral Products Association has warned that too few new quarries are getting planning permission. It says that Government needs to overcome inertia in the planning system and ensure there is sufficient land available for extraction of raw materials in order to ensure a steady and adequate supply of aggregates.

The Association’s director of planning Ken Hobden told Transportation Professional that an upshot of local aggregate shortages could be that “materials may have to travel further in the medium term, which runs contrary to the principles of sustainable development”.

Average replenishment rates for aggregate reserves continues to decline, according to the Association. Less than half of sand and gravel reserves and only three quarters of hard rock reserves were replenished in the 10 years to 2010. It adds that there has been a 40% drop in the total tonnage held in ‘landbanks’ in England and Wales since 1997.

“With too few plans, low landbanks, diminishing replenishment rates, increasing costs and planning inertia fuelling uncertainty we are storing up problems for the recovery,” said the MPA’s chief executive Nigel Jackson. “The Department for Communities & Local Government and the Planning Inspectorate need to step up their monitoring and put pressure on local authorities to ensure that the plan making system is more streamlined and responsive.”